Rotary energy absorber unit drag control means



Feb. 9, 1965 R. J. HABER 3,163,939

ROTARY ENERGY ABSORBER UNIT DRAG CONTROL MEANS Filed June 14, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR Robert J. Huber ATTORNEY ROTARY ENERGY ABSORBER UNIT DRAG CONTROL MEANS Filed June 14, 1963 R. J. HABER Feb. 9, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR Robert J. Haber ATTORNEY An'object of thislinvention isto ftrolthe liquid drag bnthe blades or vanes of rotor-jcable, tape or the like as it .is unwound fr om the drum by farresting loads developed to decelerate an aircraft to" control the over-all ,unit to preset loads. a i

United States Patent Ofilice 3,168,939 Patented Feb. 9, 1965 3 168 939 ROTARY ENERGY AB SQRBER UNXT DRAG CONTROL MEANS Robert Joseph Haber, Wilmington, Del., assignor to All American Engineering Company, Wilmington, Del., a

corporation of Delaware Filed June 14, 1963, Ser. No. 287,885 5 Claims. (Cl. 18890) The present invention is an improvement of my prior co-pending application Serial No. 233,543, filed October unwound therefrom by an engaged mobile object, such as 2 an aircraft and more particularly the invention relates to means to control the liquid drag effect on the. rotor vanes in the said housing, tothereby control the drag. forces of the liquid on said rotor to the drum".

, With this invention as in the above earlier application it is an object to efiect the K factor of the energy absorber unit through the liquid in the housing with respect to the vanes of the rotor therein. For example, the torque output ofthe rotor shaft varies as the square of the dragcoefii'cient of the liquid, on the rotor vanes in the unit. I V

Throughout the several ernbodimentshereinafter de-' scribed relating tocontrol of the liquid path to control scribed infldetail comprises a drum, a tap,e,wrap ped in layers around the drum, such asa nylon tape, a housing containing liquid and a rotor therein immersed inthe,

liquid having ashaft with anextended hub portion from the housingto which the tape drum is keyed so the drum 41.:

and the .rotor rotate together,'whereby torque from the rotorin the liquidcontaininghpusing is applied to the tape as it is unwound from the .drum by a pulling force,

suchas described in cbrinection with' prior co-pending theLK factorlof the unit, each ofthe units hereinafte r de- 3 application Serial No. 177,493 tiled in the nameofDonald B Doolittle for an Arresting Gear. and Retrieve Sys-f tem, and assigned to the assignee of'this invention.

provide means to con-J immersed in a liquidin a housing, to therebyflimit arrest in'g loads imposed by the drag or retarding forces of the? rotor-:blades or varies in the liquid with respect to a preset arres'ting load to be imparted'from a drum connected to the rotor lshaft, which is rotatedby the "payout of ofipredetermined or known weight coupled tojithe" cable, tape'or thelikef 'Another object is to provide in an absorber unit,van'e their blade shafts-andare'heldtih operating position-by .such as 22 and 23 for a feather ring gear 35. V V These spaces and 31 are variablebyhthe rotorblade" adjusting'onfeatherin'g means which comprises a bevel o0; gearGSkeyedtoVane shaft 25, a bevel gear 34 keyed tovane shaft 26 and themating bevel gear or feather ring gear keyed to a'vertical rotor vane control shaft 37 FIGURE 1 is a cross section view ofa first embodiment of the present inventionshowing a complete energy absorber unit with housing, stator blades, rotor with rotor vanes and tape reel or drum, and a drag control operating means for the rotor vanes.

FIGURE 2 is a second embodiment of the invention disclosing another form of drag control operating means and rotor vane arrangement in an absorber unit with a housing, statorblades and rotor member.

FIGURE 3 is a cross section view taken on line 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a section view taken on line 44 of FIGURE 2.

Referring to the drawing in detail and first with reference to FIGURE 1 there is shown a drum or reel A having a spool core 10 vertically positioned on an extended end 11 of a rotor shaft B. The rotor shaft B is journalled in vertically spaced bearings 12 and 13 in the bottom and top walls 14 and 15 of a liquid sealed housing C.

The housing C is suitably anchored to a horizontal bearings ofthel bottom and top plates or walls and includes a gear chamber 26. The walls of the gear box around the chamber 20 are formed with bearing openings,

rotor blade shafts, such as shown at 25*and 2s. q

These blade shafts arepreferably'for'med integrally with the base end of each of the respective rotor blades 21 and 27 which blades entend'horizontally toward the sides of the housing C with their faces vertical between verticallyxspaced opposed stator vanes28 and. 29 likewise having their faces in a vertical plane, which vanes are" formed from the interior surface of the bottom Wall "14 and of the top "wall'lS in the housing.

from each other in generally vertical relatiorn" such space between rotor blades aiid xs'tatdr v'anes being generally, indicated at 3tland Therotor blades 21 andf'27 are slightly :eccentric about their center line with respect to extending from, a journal opening leading from thebottorn wallof the "gear box 18 and 'a sleeve 41 with a cam slot 49.1 The control shaft 37 extends concentrically into the sleeve and hajsareduced end, POIiiOnilZ terminating adjacent thevcam slot 4% in the sleeve41with atransverse drag varying means, which means is manually adjustablego drag coefiicient of the absorber The above and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear more fully hereinafter from t a consideration of the detailed descriptionwhich follows, taken with the accompanying drawings wherein two emcam ,foll owen' 'such as a pin 44 extending into the cam slot to engage the sloping lower and upper edges 45' and 46 ofthe sleeve Whichdefine the cam slot.

The sleeve 41 isanchored at its: top rim to a biasing supportplate 48 and the control shaft 37 extends through a ,liquid' seal ring 49 centrally through this plate 48 into the said sleeveand'lthrough the center of a coiled spring 50. This spring'is adjustable between the plate 48 and a se'cond'plate 52 linearly slidable on the reduced: end of the shaft 37. The plate 52 maybe limited as to move- 1 a preset load position. i L V V l The control means of this embodiment is adjustable to limit arrestingloads imposed by the retarding forces of ment by an adjusting nut 5; until the spring 50 isset to V The rotorblade s'and the st-ator'ivanes arescomplemenl tarily shaped and proportioned to match, butto be spaced sure is reduced andjthevalves action ofthe preset springs,

. ment of'an aircraft rotating the drumA;

pressure in said liquid filled housing, a 2 An energyabsorber unit forarresting aircraft and setting- For example, the feather ring gear 35-attached to control shaft 37 is caused to turn through the cam action of the pin-in the cam'slot 40 of sleeve 41 mounted exteriorly ofhousing C, The initial allowable load is set by running the adjusting nut up until the spring 50 is set to 'a predetermined arrest load. Thus arrest loads im= parted on the eccentric rotor blades in excess of the arrest load allow the blades to rotate. Rotation of the feather ring gear 35 causes spring th to be depressed and the partially feathered rotor blades automatically adjust to carry the preset load. When the load becomes-less than the preset load the blade returns to its original position.

Thus when using an arresting unit with the. present novel preset arresting load control a substantially constant runout arrest device may be provided for known types and weights of aircraft.

A second embodiment for accomplishing the results of the above described embodiment, namely, a control means I to limit arresting loads imposed by the retarding forces of the rotor blades of an arresting gear shock absorber unit of the type described is shown in FIGURE 2.

In this form of the inv'ention'the feathering rotor blades are replaced with rotor blades 6%), formed with ports 61 held closed by spring load valves 62. These valves com- I prise a valve stem 63 and a valve head 64. The valve stem 63 is extended" through a centralboss 65. in a web 66 on each side of which is an arcuate opening or port 61 the nut up until the spring 67 is set against the surface of the boss 65, the loads on the rotorblade in access of the arrest load opens the valves. side of the heads ofthe valve through the arcuate openings in the blades causes the'springs to be compressed and the valves open as shown in FIGURE 4 to the dotted line position and thus' automatically adjust to carry the preset'load. When tlielo'ad becomes less the. fluid presautomatically close by Thus excess fiuid pressure on the vane faces forc'e'the fvalve's openaud llow the-load to be rnaintainedxat a preset levelto provide a substantially constantrunout arrest,

I Without 'further description it; is believed that f advantages of the present inventionover the priorartis" i apparent and while-"only two embodiments. of the same are illustrated, it is to be expresslyunderstood that the Pressure on the 1 under rotor shaftwith an extension above the top exterior of the housing, rotor blades secured to said shaft inside the housing with their effective area work surfaces vertical 7 with respect to the bottom of the housing, a drum mountedon the rotor shaft extension with 'a winding of strip material thereon for connection with runway arresting means, openings in the work faces of said blades, a central boss with a bore in each of said openings, a valve 'slidably supported in each boss, said valve having a valve stem, an adjusting nut threadable onthe free end of said stern, a spring in said stem between said nut andsaid boss, and a valve head for each valve carried by the valve stem normally closing the openings in the blades, said valve heads being movable to open positions in response to pressure.

3. An energy absorber unit for arresting aircraft and mobileobjects on a runway, said unit'cor'nprisin'g a liquid filled housing, a rotor in the housing, said rotor having a rotor shaft with an extension above the top exterior of the housing, rotor blades secured to said shaft inside the housing with their effective area work surfaces'veitical with respect to the bottom of the housing, a drum mounted on the rotor shaft extension with a winding of strip material thereonfor connection with runway arresting means,-

' during rotation of said rotor blades. V p 4. In atape, programmed fluid drag uriit' including a cylindrical Iliquidfilled housing with vertically spacedupand operatively connected blade drag control means for varyingthe effective area of the working face of each rotor blade to' maintain 'apreset load level with a blade -rag-for arresting loadstodbe' encountered during use,

1 said control means compressing a spring loaded valve,isaid valve openingbyliquid pressure at a preset load'level per andflower stator vanes and a rotor havingj radial.

rotor blades therein between the said vanes, a vertical' rotor shaft on which saidrotor is mounted, centrally positioned spaced rotor bearings, said vertical rotor shaft, i being'journalled to rotate at each end in said bearings, a

tapedrum keyed to an extended end of said shaft exterior of the said housing, tape wound upon said drum a; single stacked annular convolution, said tape during -un- I winding from said drum rotating said rotor by programming the speed of rotation of said rotor according ,to' they invention is not limited theretoas various changes may be' madein thecombination and arrangement 'of; the parts illustrated, aswill not likely appear to others and those' skilled in the art. For a definition ofthe scope orlimits ofthe invention, reference should be had .to the appended claimsJ I Whatis claimed is;

,1. An energy absorber unitfor arresting aircraft and mobile;objects ona runway, said unit comprising a liquid filled housing, a drag rotor in the housing, said rotor having a rotor shaft with an extension above the topexterior of the housing, rotor blades secured to, saidshaftinside nylon strip material thereon for connection with runway arresting .means, and normally closed valve 1 means mountedin each rotor blade-of said drag rotor for con- 1 trolling the effective dragarea of th'eworking face of each rotor blade by opening the valve means by liquid mobile objects on a runway,-said unit comprising a liquid filled housing, a; rotor iirrthe housing, said rot'or having 'a s radius of the tape convolution, from the core of thedrum tothe exterior convolution of said tape, to thereby con--- trol the dragleifect of the said unit, and rotor'drag control means carried by. each rotor blade, said dragcontrol in: cludingsprling loaded check valverneans, said valve means opening by liquid pressure at a preset load level during.

rotation of; said rotor'blade s. i r

. In a tape programmed fluid dragunit including a cylindrical liquid filled housing'with vertically spaced up I l per. andlower stator-vanes and a rotor having radial'j rotor blades therein between the -said'vanes, a-vertical rotor shaft on which saidrotor is mounted, centrally positioned spaced rotor bearings, said vertical rotor shaft being jour' nalled to rotateat each end in said bearings, a tape drumy keyed to anextended end of said shaft exteriorof the" said housing, ,tape wound upon said drum in afs ing e. stacked*anrfular convolution, said tape during unwinding from said drum rotating said rotor by programming the" 'speed of rotation or said rotor ,according to the radius I of the tape convolution from the core of the-drum'fto the [exterior convolution of said 'tape to thereby control the 1 drag effect'o'f'the said unit, said radial rotor bladeshaw 7 ing openings in the faces of said-blades, and control means in the said openings for regulating, the drag of said,blades in the' liquid filled housing, said'control means compris- 7 ing a central boss with a bore in each of said openings,"

a valve slidably supported'ineachboss, said'valvehaving v a valve stem, an adjusting nut threadable ontheLfr'ee end of said stern,- a spring in said'sterh between saidnutand said boss, and a valve head for each valve carried by the, a V valve stem normally closing the openings in the blades,

5 said valve heads being movable to open positions in response to pressure.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,052,302 2/13 Armstrong .1- 188-90 X 2,032,966 3/36 Yoxall 18890 X 2,077,080 4/37 Tolman 188-90 2,156,133 7/39 Troller 230122 EUGENE G. BOTZ, Primary Examiner. 

1. AN ENERGY ABSORBER UNIT FOR ARRESTING AIRCRAFT AND MOBILE OBJECTS ON A RUNWAY, SAID UNIT COMPRISING A LIQUID FILLED HOUSING, A DRAG ROTOR IN THE HOUSING, SAID ROTOR HAVING A ROTOR SHAFT WITH AN EXTENSION ABOVE THE TOP EXTERIOR OF THE HOUSING, ROTOR BLADES SECURED TO SAID SHAFT INSIDE THE HOUSING WITH THEIR EFFECTIVE AREA WORK SURFACES VERTICAL WITH RESPECT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE HOUSING, A DRUM MOUNTED ON THE ROTOR SHAFT EXTENSION WITH A WINDING OF NYLON STRIP MATERIAL THEREON FOR CONNECTION WITH RUNWAY ARRESTING MEANS, AND NORMALLY CLOSED VALVE MEANS MOUNTED IN EACH ROTOR BLADE OF SAID DRAG ROTOR FOR CONTROLLING THE EFFECTIVE DRAG AREA OF THE WORKING FACE OF EACH ROTOR BLADE BY OPENING THE VALVE MEANS BY LIQUID PRESSURE IN SAID LIQUID FILLED HOUSING. 